When All is Lost, Then All is Found
by youhavenopoweroverme
Summary: The nightmare spirit is paid a visit up on his lonely mountain. Anna has traveled asking for his help in this strange enchanted forest. No one asks Pitch for anything, much less *help*; certainly nobody this pretty and brave. One-shot inspired by a headcanon on my Pitchanna tumblr when I saw Anna's Lost in the Woods gif.


_**T**_he forest stirred. Change was coming. The wind spirit was restless, and when that particular elemental was unsettled, the whole land felt it, too.

Pitch Black certainly did. A light breeze drifted into his lair underground, twisting itself around his ankles like an affectionate cat. The curious Gale so rarely ventured down where he lived; whimsy as it was, it did nothing without a purpose in mind.

He had encountered it on many occasions. He had learned to tolerate the mischievous gust of air after a few failed attempts to make it go away before deciding it was, perhaps, an amusing creature after all. It never tried to stop him from frightening children as the Guardians did, which earned a little respect from the Nightmare King. It didn't seem to even fear him, but acted like a playful child when they interacted. It was as close to a friendly acquaintance as the Boogeyman was ever likely to get.

He glided through the halls up to the top of the entrance. He could have easily phased through the shadows, but it got boring sometimes, traveling the easy way. Besides, someone had traveled long and far to see him, and that sparked his curiosity. Almost no one dared to disturb the forest spirit of darkness and terror. And anyway, the walk was good; he enjoyed making whoever had come all this way wait longer, to worsen any frazzled nerves they might have.

A fearling appeared at his elbow. "Master," it said, hardly speaking words but making more of a groan. "A child comes to you."

"A child came here? _Alone_?" More surprise. Then joy. Going after children himself as they slept cozily in their beds was satisfying enough, but when one came right to his lair practically begging to be frightened, how could he turn them away?

He sent the fearling away as he finally came through the mouth of the lair, the blazing pink of the autumn sunset almost blinding him. Annoyed, he refused to squint and show any weakness in front of this stranger, but straightened his back to give a most intimidating silhouette. The Northuldra told stories of how his underground palace was the underworld, and this cave's mouth at the top of the jagged black hills was the mouth of hell itself. He encouraged these horrible tales and took pleasure in knowing as lonesome as his existence was, some still respected and feared the nightmare spirit.

The discomfort of the aggravating dusk light began to recede. His visitor didn't move, either waiting for him to speak or not even realizing his was there. Still feeling irate, he kept his voice low and frightening when he asked, "What do you want?"

He saw more clearly now, but a beacon of light still stood before him. A young woman was facing away from him, facing the horizon, but turned abruptly at the sound of his voice. A very pretty one, hair tousled around her face by the Gale that danced around her, almost as if showing her off.

"Oh! You're really here!" She said excitedly, and took a step towards him. "I'm Princess Anna. And I've come to ask for your help."

_Help?_ He couldn't help but laugh out loud a little. The Boogeyman didn't _help_ anyone, and certainly nobody dared to ask him for it. But if his curiosity was coaxed before, it had grown considerably now. He looked her over carefully, taking his time before responding.

She was no child at all, and wondered how his idiot fearlings could have mistaken her for such. Willowly but smaller than himself by a couple feet, she had a smile on her face, wide as if genuinely pleased to have found him. Her eyes shone, but perhaps that was just a trick of the irritating light.

"I'm here," he agreed. He kept his voice even and full of ice against the warmth this . "But… _help…_ is what you think I'm in the business of doing?" He let out a chuckle as shadows curled around their feet.

That hardly rattled her. "Please. Just hear me out." She began to pace, as if she weren't standing in the presence of the Nightmare King himself. She took a deep breath and explained,"So, I'm here with my sister, Queen Elsa, and my boyfriend, Kristoff- even though I'm not sure how serious it is- and we're from Arendelle, where Elsa woke up the elements at, like, two in the morning because this voice from the enchanted forest has been calling her, and we need to figure out who it is and what they want because this magic wind our talking snowman calls Gale forced us out of our kingdom. We saw the fire spirit, some rock giants, and the Northuldra, who I guess we're related to, and some Arendelle soldiers who got trapped in this magic fog around the forest decades ago, and-"

After a long instance of staring at the girl in astonishment of her maddeningly casual attitude towards him, Pitch finally snapped to his senses. He strode over to her, rising to a more formidable height, scowling. "Why did you come?"

"Sorry. So much has been going on," she said, smiling self-consciously. "The wind elemental brought us here to find Elsa's destiny, to see who's been calling her. I was told you know the forest pretty well and thought you might be able to help. Maybe at least give us some advice on what to do." The smile disappeared as she hugged herself, looking looked away towards the sky, as if her mind were elsewhere. "I got separated from Elsa and Kristoff, and I… I just can't do it without them."

She finally seemed done talking, looking thoughtfully off to the side. All that chatter, and now she barely registered the fearsome being she had come all the way to see. Pitch frowned at this, but decided to see where it went.

"It's true, I know the entire land well. Do you know why?"

At last she met his eyes again. "You're Pitch Black. The nightmare spirit, right? Not one of the elements, but you're pretty powerful. You can enter houses and dreams. You've seen a lot."

Pitch's lips curved up at that. Impudent she might be, but she knew when she came across someone special. Trying to scare her more would probably be fruitless. She didn't fear him, she was clearly lost and lonely… and recognized his strength and uniqueness. Perhaps a different route would work.

"I am. I've scared every child I've come across in this vast forest and the whole world. I know things you could never dream of. I know more about magic than the Northuldra, I can promise you that. And I know about the Gale."

She perked up at that, her face again lighting up, but not from the sky. "You do? Do you know where it's trying to take Elsa? It's not something that can hurt her, is it?" An impulsive wish to see her delicate features bathed in white moonlight instead of this bright blaze passed through his mind.

Annoyed and unnerved this fleeting desire, Pitch shoved it at the back of his mind. Turning away from her to stand by the edge of the cliff, he answered, "No one really knows what the wind elemental does or what it wants. But I can help you. The Ahtohallan is where she has to be headed, it's where all the answers in all the world are stored. But you can't go there on your own, a little thing like you. Not across the Dark Sea."

"Then help me get there, please," she pleaded. "I can't do it myself, but Elsa can't do it alone, either. I know she's stronger, but she deserves help."

"And what would I get out of this, Your Highness, besides your delightful company?"

"Well… what do you want?" For the first time in their meeting, uncertainty grew on her face.

"Why don't we decide that when we get to the River?" He suggested pleasantly. "Your mortals' money and gold don't mean anything to me."

The girl looked at him hard, as if trying to read him better. "Well… Elsa's safety is worth it to me. If you get me there in one piece, and you don't have any funny intentions… then it's a deal, Pitch."

Easier said than done, hethought, although in truth he had no idea what he would ask for. That was part of the fun, the spontaneity of playing around with humans, especially one this ingenuous. But he sincerely wanted to know something.

"What makes you think I can be trusted?"

She considered for a moment, not put off by his leering, then answered, "Elsa trusts this place- the Northuldra, Gale, the voice in the forest. And I trust her." Her grin returned, rather coyly, he thought. "And none of them are scared of you, so I don't see why I should be, either."

He had to laugh at this princess's audacity. Irritating (and not that he would ever show it, discomforting) though it might be, nobody but the Guardians spoke to him so boldly, and her whole presence was more entertainment in one hour than he'd had in a long time. And still she had so little faith in herself, an ordinary girl wandering around a land drenched in magic. Yet she came up here asking for help bravely enough as if she didn't think he was capable of harming her at all. Maybe she was more complicated than he gave humans credit for. Maybe.

_All right, then_. He decided he would allow himself this fun and do her this favor. "I'll help you, Anna." He tasted her name, savoring it.


End file.
